iRateBooks had its inaugural meetin' on Tuesday 13th January, 2009. We discussed out first book, 'Amerika' by Franz Kafka. In the story, Karl Rossman is sent off to Amerika to set about establishing a new life after disgracing himself by 'gettin it on' with a humble maid back in Europe. Kafka never visited Amerika which makes the story all the more interesting in many ways, as it projects a surreal mythical version of the place, perhaps based on the dreamt symbolism of the place in his mind. I rated it 7 out of 7 for style, humour, and psychic aptness. I think I had to give it full marks also for setting the Kafkaesque comical nightmare within capitalism HQ. For those keen on interpreting Kafka's vision so purely in terms of its premonition of stalinist terror, this is a very important counter example of his vision. Actually, if you do like to interpret Kafka in this way I would strongly recommend reading this immediately, or at least just fuck off to some university tute somewhere. Only kidding.
jmc
2 comments:
This is very good, Jase. Words fail me. I have not a single irate word for you. Only cliches.
Sure. We can ramp the irateness up gradually. Let us not scare people away too early. We're both better at being initially charming, then disarming and then downright obnoxious later :).
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